This invention has application in the field of generating selective patterns in a dielectric layer in semiconductor component manufacture. In a typical microcircuit manufacturing process, a dielectric layer such as silicon dioxide, silicon nitride or silicon oxynitride, is etched by use of either plasma or wet chemical etch techniques through a photoresist mask. Such methods invariably involve a large number of process steps. The present invention presents a simpler alternative in which the dielectric layer, e.g. silicon dioxide, for example, is patterned directly. The invention is particularly suited to small geometries using an electron beam or to larger geometries when a high intensity electron flood exposure system is applied.